Brian Dennert here

( Bob Huber along with former Mayor Cathie Wright, State Senator Tony Strickland, and former mayor Greg Stratton. Photo courtesy of Bob Huber.)

Although I have already reported that attorney Bob Huber is running to be the next mayor of Simi Valley he made it official today.

The three most often mentioned candidates are Community College Board Trustee Bob Huber, Council Member Steve Sojka, and Council Member Barbra Williamson. My predictions for this year for this campaign is that only two of the three names mentioned above will run for mayor.

I was most surprised at Tony Strickland's endorsement. Tony Strickland is the leader of the Ventura County Republican Party and his endorsement will be influential in this campaign. Steve Sojka has frequently endorsed Tony Strickland and Audra Strickland for the various offices they have run for in the past.

Do you think Steve Sojka regrets helping them in their past races now that Tony Strickland is lending critical support to a formidable opponent? Maybe Linda Parks should call him and see if they want to endorse each other...

What other critical endorsements are out there for the candidates running?

Here's my list in no particular order:

1. Paul Miller 2. George Runner 3. The Simi Valley POA 4. Glen Becerra 5. Michelle Foster 6. Simi Valley School Board and Park Board Members 7. Cameron Smyth 8. Simi Valley Teachers (SEA) 9. Peter Foy 10. Keith Richman 11. Police Chief Mike Lewis

Bob Huber has started out strong and has a head start on officially campaigning. That being said Steve Sojka has many attributes that he can use in a campaign. Because of his direct mail business I expect he will be able to maximize his campaign spending. He is involved in many local charities including The Police Foundation which could help him with the POA. Public safety is the perennially most important issue in Simi Valley city elections and in addition to his support of The Police Foundation he has a long family history with the SVPD.

This race could be very exciting. As a blogger and a voter I look forward to a contested race for mayor. Contested elections are good for democracies and this contest could make the successful candidate a better mayor. I will be covering the campaigns more often than any other source.

To the candidates and their supporters: If you ever see a comment that goes over the top and should be removed please send me an email. I do not post that you requested a comment removed. You don't need to register to comment. Keep it classy everyone.

Click on continue reading for another photograph of Bob Huber.

Democrat Shawn Stern is planning a whole different type of campaign that he says will demonstrate what type of Member of Congress he would be. He isn't raising money. You read that correctly. He isn't making phone calls and his website doesn't even have a donate now button. He won't take your money even if you offered it to him.

Instead he is trying to show that he would be much more accessible than Rep. Gallegly has been. He has put up a new website where people can ask him questions that he will address in an upcoming online press conference. I submitted a question asking if he would vote to remove Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) and I asked him if he held Lincoln or Washington in higher regard. Go ask him your own question @ :

This week he is planning a press conference outside of Rep. Elton Gallegly's office where he is going to explain this claim:

"Mr. Gallegly has held no town hall meetings, no press conferences, and is unavailable to the people in our community. It's the job of a Congressman to listen to his community, and then stand for us in Washington. We have not seen that from him."

Click on continue reading for his press release.

Shawn,

Running a campaign without money on the surface seems like a bad plan. But we will see what type of media coverage, how many letters to the editor, and what level of buzz among activists that you can generate without significant financial contributions. I think the plan is flawed but the next few weeks will be a test of your strategy.

Many state legislators were recently caught not reporting gifts from special interest groups. The fines were rather small but I am always amazed legislators don't reject more gifts to avoid the appearance of impropriety or to deprive their opponents of easy attacks.

Click here for the article. Here are some of the local connections:

• Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, $154 for a reception and travel costs from the Bank of America Corp., and $94 for a dinner from the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians.

• Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, tickets of $60 for concerts of Keith Urban and George Strait, respectively, by the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians.

Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, R-Moorpark, $83 in Billy Joel concert tickets from the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians.

I didn't know Billy Joel has kept touring. His We didn't start the fire song is really popular with history teachers but I am disappointed with the end of it. He finishes a great song with "cola wars I can't take it anymore" and overturns a table. After a song that covers some heavy issues the event that pushes him over the edge is the cola wars?

Who do you think came out ahead in this story? It surely wasn't the public who is weary of this type of influence peddling. Sure they might vote for you but frequently it isn't because they trust you much it is just that they trust the other party even less.

Note to elected officials: The average voter doesn't think it is okay for you to take concert tickets and other gifts that are obviously being given to influence you from special interest groups. The small gifts aren't worth the trust you are losing. We pay you fairly high salaries. Please pay for your own meals and tickets.

Campaign donations are supposedly to help elect people that a group agrees with on policy. But gifts aren't given to help elect a candidate usually. This report is just the gifts that candidates didn't report for a variety of reasons including clerical mistakes and misunderstanding the law.

Imagine all the perfectly legal and reported gifts being given to people that are supposed to be looking out for our best interests.

UPDATE: I know our local legislators are going to keep taking tickets from groups trying to influence them but I have thought of a compromise. There should be a local raffle where the voters have a chance at winning concert tickets given to our legislators. Who's with me?

Moorpark Professor Marie Panec sent out a press release showing she is officially running and included the themes of her campaign. I have heard she has built up an organization of dedicated students to help her win the primary campaign.

She stands out from her opponents in the primary because she is already an elected official. She is currently a School Board Member in the highly regard Oak Park School District.

Click on continue reading for her press release.

I spoke with candidate Shawn Stern tonight and he is planning a big week ahead. I will post more on his campaign tomorrow.

The field for candidates seems to be set so I removed some of the choices from the poll. Previous polls included Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett, Moorpark Council Member Keith Millhouse ( if he switched parties), and California Superintendendt of Education Jack O'Connell.

Although the races for Sheriff , the Democratic nomination in the 35th State Assembly District and for Supervisor from Thousand Oaks will likely generate the most excitement I plan to cover the congressional primary often and with great detail. I don't know which of the three candidates I am going to vote for yet and that makes it interesting to me too.

The Ventura County Star is reporting that Audra Strickland is running for Secretary of State, congress, County Treasurer, Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

She is scheduled to give a speech tomorrow.

Wouldn't it be great if I had the text of that speech?

Check out this link.

http://tinyurl.com/Strickland-Speech

Here were some of my predictions for Ventura County politics in 2010:

1. Rep. Elton Gallegly doesn't hold a town hall meeting in Ventura County that is scheduled and open to the public.

2. Audra Strickland runs for another office.

Audra Strickland draws out the passion from activists on both the left and the right. I know that Republican activists will support her but I don't know if Democratic activists will get strongly behind Republican Linda Parks. In making this move Audra Strickland has given up any claim to not being a "career politician". She should start embracing the title and use it to explain the calling to public service she feels to young people.

Audra Strickland is great at campaigning. She has so far done very well in teasing out her entrance into the race over the last few weeks to maximize media coverage. Both her and Tony Strickland are energetic campaigners that are willing to work very hard to earn the support of voters. This will be the toughest campaign ever for Linda Parks.

I have often been critical of Audra Strickland but she has been very willing to meet with the public. This has served her well so far and I expect she will continue with this tradition. I look forward to many debates between the candidates.

Assembly Member Audra Strickland,

Thanks for helping to sell newspapers and drive traffic to blogs. I look forward to an exciting campaign. I consider this move your blog stimulus plan.

Reporters,

Can you please use the term State Assembly Member and not Assembly Man or Assembly Woman? I believe Your AP Style Guide will back me up.

( Here is Tim Allison saying discussing his support for Barack Obama.)

The 24th Congressional District Primary is now between Tim Allison, Marie Panec, and Shawn Stern. Tim Allison has by far been campaigning the hardest of the three by adding staff members, attending events, and announcing endorsements. Marie Panec is running quietly for the time being but with the June primary election fast approaching she has lost ground to Tim Allison. Shawn Stern has a large Facebook presence and a great website but I don't see how he is going to attract attention from primary voters if something doesn't change.

If Shawn Stern or Marie Panec wins the primary can we expect them to run with the needed intensity for general election campaign?

Click on continue reading for the latest press release announcing more endorsements for Tim Allison.

You can go to their websites to see their endorsements for yourself:

Tim Allison

Marie Panec

Shawn Stern doesn't have his endorsements listed but I will post a link when he does.

( Representatives of the far left and far right Cindy Sheehan and Alex Jones. If you have better, more accurate, labels for their ideologies please post them in the comments section.)

Cindy Sheehan is coming to Ventura this weekend to continue her anti-war message. Click on continue reading for details.

( A video titled "Dolores Huerta on the Decision Which Changed Her Life" about how she became involved with labor organizing.)

Democratic State Assembly candidate Das Williams has announced he has received the endorsement of UFCW Co-founder Dolores Huerta.

Most endorsements don't change who I would like to see win an election but I do admire Dolores Huerta. I haven't decided who I want to win the Democratic nomination and I don't expect an endorsement to be influential either. My top issues for the state assembly are jobs, the budget, and education reform.

What are your top issues?

Click on continue reading for the press release.

I have confirmed that Marta Jorgensen is going to end her campaign for the Democratic nomination for congress. She faced an uphill battle in the primary against Tim Allison and of course after that the winner will be facing Rep. Elton Gallegly.

I have often given Marta Jorgensen a hard time for her campaigning skills but at a time like this we should remember that she did what so many of us will never do. She stepped into the arena and declared she is running for office. Marta, this TR quote goes out to you:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

I haven't seen Marie Panec or Shawn Stern campaigning much lately. So far Tim Allison is the clear favorite for the nomination.

In related news Marta Jorgensen long agoendorsed Das Williams in his race against Susan Jordan for the Democratic nomination in the 35th State Assembly District.

Washington DC Chancellor of Public Schools is among the most controversial educators in America. She is a staunch defender of public education but she has constantly challenged teachers and others to reform. I created a Facebook Fanpage to show support for her goals. Please read a few articles on her and consider becoming a fan. Wikipedia in often a decent starting point in your research. Also check out the WashingtonPost.com page dedicated to news involving her.

She took over as Chancellor of the urban school system rated simultaneously as among the worst academically and among the highest per student expenditures in the nation. Since taking over she has pushed to put into place high performing principals and to reform teacher tenure. Like many, she favors some changes to No Child Left Behind but she is a stalwart supporter of the law overall. She has also upset many with brash decisions and not always working well with other stake holders. All of this has upset many people, sometimes for good reasons.

She has the support of President Barack Obama and DC Mayor Adrian Fenty. Many Republicans have supported her along the way too. If you go through the fans on the Facebook page I created you will see an amazing diversity of people from across the nation. A fellow administrator of the site worked for McCain in 2000 while I was proud to support Barack Obama.

When you talk to someone running for an office that deals with education ask them if overall the law has been a net benefit or negative to education.

I believe that people like Michelle Rhee are needed so much I am supporting the re-election of Anthony Fenty for another term as mayor. Change doesn't always come quick but Michelle Rhee deserves our support.

I found this Tweet on Twitter that shows my sources are correct that Bob Huber is looking to run for Mayor of Simi Valley. The election is this November. Mayor Paul Miller has not announced if he is going to retire yet. The other candidates I have heard mentioned include council members Barbra Williamson and Steve Sojka. I am looking forward to a battle of ideas between the candidates.

No word if Mickey Jones will be running but some people sure like voting for him in my polls. Maybe the candidates should try to get his endorsement.

Democratic State Assembly Candidate Susan Jordan has been going after Gov. Before the current campaign and disputes over offshore oil production they were much friendlier. In fact she even joined administration officials on a trip overseas.

Check it out this article from back when they were much friendlier:

The only LNG critic on the trip was Susan Jordan, leader of the California Coastal Protection Network, who said she went along to make certain that environmental and safety issues associated with LNG were raised.

"I don't think the administration officials are particularly that weak willed," Jordan said.

This article reminds me that in politics sometimes it isn't personal and even though sternly written press releases make people sound outraged, behind closed doors they are often willing to work together.

Susan Jordan has been running against Governor Schwarzenegger more than she has been running against Das Williams. Will she pivot to running against the Republican nominee for governor when they secure their nomination? I want to know if she can work with the governor, regardless of who holds the office next.